A modern phenomenon perhpas, or just a continuation digitally of that which was being purpetrated actually a couple of hundred years ago. Whatever the cause, the effect this has on those who are working within the sex industry are exposed in this one-woman show from Salford University graduate Gemma Davies.
With help and direction from Chloe Patricia Beale this 70 minute virtually non-stop onslaught and exposé of a sex worker and how the work impacts on her private life was both well-informed and cleverly put together.
Aurora is your dream girl and will do anything for you. Available for telephone chats and online cam sessions you tell her your fantasies and she reenacts them for your pleasure and hers. Jess is a 20-something who wanted a flexible job which wouldn't take control of her and her life, and so 'camming' was an easy option for her. She was young and wasn't shy, and of course the pay is good, which helps to pay the bills. It's good pay, if you can keep a client watching / talking for over the two minute barrier, and good to have 'regulars' too. However what happens when the public Aurora and the private Jess conflict and their lives intertwine? What happens when Jess cannot decide whether she is actually Jess or Aurora or maybe she wants to be both? What happens when an online friend stalks her and enters her real life? What happens when her real-life boyfriend enters her online life as a client?
Gemma Davies has a good stage presence and totally owns her split-personality. Vocally strong and clear, and not for one second do you ever feel that she dips in energy, even when she is still or contemplative, she still has total control over the stage and her audience. Yes, her audience, for this is a show that breaks the fourth wall convention. She can see us and she is talking directly to us, challenging us. She takes us through her life and work. Why and how she started, up to the point she is at now.. a point of no return perhaps? And no, she's not a prostitute - she baulks at that word. Even when the Urban Dictionary describes her line of work as 'whoring'.
The scenario is, I would imagine a very probable one and based on much research. However, for me the 70 minutes is a little overlong for a story which basically has so little narrative or dynamic change. It's much more a fly-on-the-wall documentary in places, or the kind of show so often shown these days on TV as 'reality'. Nevertheless, the acting is consistent throughout and Davies makes it a compelling watch.
Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
on - 21/7/19
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